Samsung Countersues Apple in Australia Over Mobile Patents

Samsung revealed over the weekend that it has filed a countersuit in Australia against Apple over claims that the iPhone and iPad infringe on patents the electronics company owns. The two companies have already been duking it out in court in the country, and Samsung has even agreed to postpone launching its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia until the end of September.

Apple and Samsung have been locked in a legal battle over patent infringement claims for several months. Both companies have alleged that the other’s mobile devices use patented technologies without proper licensing, and have filed lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and other countries.

A German court recently upheld an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country, and the company filed an appeal in hopes of overturning that ruling.

Apple was also awarded a temporary injunction through a Dutch court blocking the sale of some Galaxy devices in the European Union, and Samsung has agreed to postpone sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia until the end of September.

The two companies have filed lawsuits against each other several countries such as the United States, Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The legal battle may have damaged Apple’s business relationship with Samsung, too. Samsung has been providing components for some of Apple’s products, but may have lost its deal to build the company’s custom processors for the iPhone and iPad to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Think of how much money in future revenue and profit that Samsung is going to lose from Apple on the component side because of their ongoing legal battles over a lackluster Galaxy tablet. IIRC Apple and Samsung had worked out a multi-billion dollar deal for displays, memory, and processors. Wasn’t it approaching $8 Billion?

So, while the execs in the components business units are celebrating, the tablet group copies Apple with their Galaxy Tab, has lackluster sales and near-zero profit, any of which is now sucked up in global legal fees, and in doing so they screw their components groups out of billions of dollars in future revenue and probably tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars in future profit. Samsung really hosed themselves. They should shut down the Galaxy Tab, go back to Apple begging forgiveness on their knees for their tablet venture, and plead for the component business back. Then, they should fire the executives responsible for the Galaxy Tab. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!! This should become a Harvard Business School case study!!

Nice summary, RonMacGuy. I would argue for Stanford Business School, but then I am biased. While it is not over yet, and there may be more twists and turns before the dust settles, it makes a good case study, and an object lesson, nonetheless.

No, no. Expecting Korea’s Samsung not to copy is like expecting a scorpion not to sting, like Ballmer not to stick out his tongue, a Teabagger not to play the victim; That socio-pathology is in their genes, an inherent, inborn trait. The management who made the decision to copy Apple are and is and will continue to be lauded for having that strong Korean MO, that is, of a copyist.